Ruling class: Teens aim to be tomorrow's leaders
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Some 60 Vermont teenagers gathered at Brattleboro’s World Learning this month for the 20th annual Governor’s Institute on Current Issues & Youth Activism. Photo by Kevin O’Connor |
Toolbox
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Staff Writer - Published: July 19, 2009
They're too young to vote but soon will inherit the world. So who do teenagers tag as their role models?
Nick Skinas points to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, "calm and poised in a pressure situation." That said, don't mistake the 17-year-old Northfield student-athlete as single-minded. He's most concerned about tackling the challenge of renewable energy.
Alison Bliven, like a majority of her peers, appreciates President Barack Obama. But wearing a tie-dyed blouse with a peace symbol, the 16-year-old Bradford girl cites a more historic figure: 18th century social reformer and Russian Czar Peter the Great.
Ian Campbell would rather don his red, white and blue John McCain T-shirt. But that doesn't stop the 15-year-old Starksboro boy from questioning the Iraq war or hoping the state will serve as a national example on the progressive issues of climate change, health care and poverty.
Think high schoolers tune out each summer? Skinas, Bliven and Campbell are three of some 60 Vermont students who plugged into classes in politics, policy and public service this month at the Governor's Institute on Current Issues & Youth Activism.
Kenneth Williams, a teacher at the host site at Brattleboro's World Learning, greeted his group with a question: "Are leaders born or are leaders made?"
Students agreed with their instructor: Made. Williams believes good leadership skills can improve not only government but also families, friends, classrooms and careers. His tips, in turn, aim to help everyone.
So what's the lesson plan for tomorrow's leaders? How are they responding? And where do they hope to find themselves and the state in the future?
SUBHEAD: 'A true American Idol'
First, they want to know who's who. Even before Williams could instruct students to introduce themselves, Alexis Reed, 17, of Georgia (the northern town, not the southern state) asked her peers, "Could we do names real quick?"
Reed, who likes quantum physics and the nickname "Allie," hopes to improve her communication skills to help the war-torn African region of Darfur.
Others said they didn't have trouble speaking out but fitting in.
"I want to learn to be a little more cooperative," said Kayce Penn, 17, of Corinth.
"I want to learn to work with people better," said Jacob Kornfeld, 15, of Norwich.
"I want people to want to follow me," said Campbell.
Identifying herself last, Jess Watkins, 17, of Springfield labeled herself an introvert. Even so, "I want to know what I can do to help change the world."
Asked what characteristics they want in a leader, Vermont students list intelligence, honesty, dedication, responsiveness, kindness, composure and humility.
Prodded for specific examples, a majority cite Obama, calling him a thoughtful, charismatic communicator who, in the words of one, is "a true American Idol." But teens also culled from their history classes, noting 16th century Protestant reformer Martin Luther ("even though he had a bunch of flaws, he totally went against the church to create his vision," Campbell says) and 1960s civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Williams sums up students' role models with one word: "Revolutionaries."
SUBHEAD: What's missing
The 50-year-old teacher wears summer attire: shorts and sandals. But don't let his casual wardrobe or Caribbean accent lull you. Williams, born and raised in Barbados, has a master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a doctorate from New York's Columbia University.
Williams may neither look nor sound like most Vermont teachers, but students weren't complaining. Asked what they appreciate most about the state, they talk about its small size, pastoral landscape and four seasons. As for what's missing, all agree: diversity.
"I feel like I am not exposed to other cultures and different ways of thinking," Reed says in a comment echoed by many of her classmates.
To fill the void, many say they'll seek a college and perhaps a career outside the state. But with technology, their teacher says, they don't have to travel to seek out diverse opinions. He asks why a full spectrum of thought is beneficial.
"There may not be one right way to do something," Kornfeld says.
Or one right way to see it, the teacher adds. Whether in homes or worksites or on the world stage, he says, most of today's problems fester because of people's inability to agree on solutions.
"You're going to deal with a lot of difficult people — including yourself," Williams tells students. "Do not make a decision without hearing alternative perspectives. Protect the voices of minorities, the voices that seem to be different — they are bringing opinions you may not have thought about."
Take two teenage visitors from Ireland. Although Vermont students had to reach into history to find such heroines as Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa, their Irish peers could cite their country's two most recent presidents, Mary McAleese and her predecessor, Mary Robinson.
Likewise, when Williams asked who had read Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, only the Irish visitors raised their hands.
SUBHEAD: Dyslexia and divorce
Even so, Vermont teens have learned through personal experience. One talked of dealing with dyslexia, another of a parent's battle against cancer, a third of a grandparent's prejudice against "colored people." The largest number, however, said they were most affected by divorce.
"When my parents got divorced, I grew up a lot," said one.
"It makes you more independent," said a second.
"Because my parents don't communicate at all, I have to," said a third.
"If I want to lead a successful life, it's up to me," said a fourth.
As for academics, Vermont teens sometimes know more than they think. When Williams asked students to recite King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, all sat stumped. But when the teacher feed them the first words, everyone remembered the rest.
"His dreams," Williams says with a smile, "are beginning to become true."
For homework, the teacher suggests books ("Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, "The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog" by James Sire), films ("Gandhi," "Whale Rider") and Internet searches of everyone from Josef Stalin to Mao Zedong to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
Williams also asks a plethora of questions: What can one learn from Adolf Hitler? When is a private affair a public one? How are leaders affected by their birth order, gender and cultural expectations?
His diving can go deep.
"What constitutes a human being? What is the meaning of life? Is there a meaning to life? What happens to a human at death? How does this relate to leadership?"
SUBHEAD: 'Test things'
Students' answers bounced from the Bible to the big-bang theory, everything to nothing.
"I'm really not sure," one said. "I thought I was a half-hour ago."
Likewise, although classroom liberals outnumbered conservatives, political questions weren't limited to the latest Republican sex scandal. If Obama still used marijuana, as he admitted to in his youth, "would that," the teacher asked, "be an issue?"
"I think it would turn a lot of people away from him," said one student.
"And it's illegal," said a second.
"Shouldn't be," said a third.
Williams doesn't advocate a particular position on anything. He tells students to think, to challenge, to remain open-minded, to understand the influences of family, religion and society on themselves and others.
"My job is not to judge or import my world view. We need to recognize our differences. How do you begin to work with people with all these views? Draw on the good of every one."
For all his talk of statesmen and scholars, Dr. Williams is anything but highfalutin. He likes to show students a scene from the film "Dead Poets Society" in which their 1959 counterparts stand atop desks to protest school autocracy. He instructs everyone how to tuck oranges under their necks and, without hands, pass them to peers; how to move rings using straws in their mouths.
One student bent the straw into a hook.
"That's not going to work," another scoffed.
The critic was proved wrong.
"We have to allow room for questioning," the teacher says. "We have to test things to know."
SUBHEAD: 'Setting the stage'
The program — one of seven annual Governor's Institutes that also include arts, Asian cultures, engineering, information technology, mathematics and science — offers students 12 days of classes on societal problems and possible solutions, as well as the chance to carry protest signs and chant at Brattleboro's Fourth of July Parade.
Although sidewalk spectators applauded such teen spirit, Williams tells students that provocative efforts don't work in every setting.
"Your message may be powerful and pertinent," he says, "but if you do things to distract people or shut them down, your audience cannot hear you."
That doesn't mean he wants students to sit down.
"There are times when we need to stand up," Williams says. "Very often we shrink from our responsibility. By doing nothing, you are contributing to the problem. Changing the status quo is difficult. It takes time for human beings to change, but you're setting the stage."
Teens don't have to wait until they're old enough to vote, the teacher adds.
"You've been trained to think a teacher makes the class, but you have to think, 'I want the most of this.' What are the acts of leadership you can take today, tonight, tomorrow?"
Williams recommends a balanced diet of work, rest and eating right.
"Not getting involved in alcohol and drugs is an act of leadership — it keeps your mind clear," he says. "Everything we do can be an act of leadership if we want it to be."
The teacher ends with one last question: What have students learned?
Cleo Rohn, 16, of Brattleboro answers for her peers: "A heightened sense of awareness of how I can impact people — and the ability to pass an orange with my neck."
kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com
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